JPS6350549B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hydroelectric power plant with improved efficiency.

Devices that harness the energy contained in flowing water date back to ancient times. This type of equipment is extremely diverse, from water wheels used to grind grain to hydroelectric generators that harvest the energy of Niagara Falls. Useful energy is also extracted from airflow through devices such as windmills. Both hydroelectric generators and wind turbines have frames that support them and are firmly moored to the ground. U.S. Patent No. 2,485,543 and
Recently, the possibility of extracting energy from air streams has been explored, as taught in US Pat. The latter two patents listed above are of interest in that they disclose devices supported by an air stream in the manner of a kite. The importance of this feature will be understood from the following description of a representative embodiment of the invention.

The main problem encountered when trying to harness the energy of the wind is that the density of the air is so low that it is not possible to extract significant amounts of energy from the airflow unless extremely large equipment is used. . However, the density of water is significantly greater than that of air, so if the velocity of the water is large enough, a relatively small device can extract large amounts of energy.

In high-performance hydroelectric generators, water velocity is not so important, but in terms of efficiency, these hydroelectric generators have a pressure drop or head loss between the water inlet and outlet, and the This machine is unsuitable where the flow changes freely.

To date, hydroelectric generator installations are mostly of the frame-moored type to the ground.
Therefore, such a power generation device cannot utilize the flow of water in the middle of a river, for example;
Furthermore, it is not possible to take advantage of water flows whose direction changes from day to day or with the ebb and flow of the tide. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a hydroelectric power generation device that can be positioned and oriented in the direction of water flow to generate electricity with high efficiency.

The hydroelectric power generation device according to the present invention includes a commonly used mooring cable that holds the power generation device in the water flow, and a control cable that sets the depth and orientation of the power generation device. The power plant itself consists of a first stage in the form of a fan and a second stage with a hollow tube mounted radially above the fan. Water is accelerated through a hollow tube toward turbine blades that drive a generator mounted around the periphery of the fan.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the fan blade is made hollow so that it constitutes a radial hollow tube.
The inlet end of each hollow tube is oriented in an upstream direction with respect to the water flow circulating the fan. Each hollow tube can be tapered such that the diameter of the inlet end of the tube is greater than the diameter of the outlet end, thereby increasing the velocity of the jet exiting the outlet end of the hollow tube.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a hydroelectric power plant with improved efficiency.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hydroelectric power generation device with improved efficiency that can utilize the kinetic energy of water flow and convert the kinetic energy into electrical energy.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a seawater generator, which is configured to position and orient the generator to make maximum use of the direction of water flow.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hydroelectric power generation device with improved efficiency, which can utilize the energy of water flows such as rivers.

An important object of the present invention is to obtain a turbogenerator that makes efficient use of free water flow by using a first stage turbine arrangement forming a turbogenerator that takes in water at its surrounding pressure and velocity. There is a lot to do.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a system which obviates the need for heavy, low speed gearing such as is required to connect very large, low speed water turbines; A large torque can be obtained and the structure is robust,
Moreover, there is only a torque loss due to friction in the bearing part.

Other objects and features of the invention will be partly obvious and partly obvious from the specification thereof.

Accordingly, the present invention is characterized by the structure and combination of elements and arrangement of parts illustrated in the configurations detailed below, and the scope of the invention is defined by the claims. It is as it is.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate embodiments of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the hydroelectric power plant according to the invention is mounted on a frame, generally indicated by the reference numeral 14, which includes main cables including power transmission lines. 5
It is moored by. The frame 14 and the means for positioning the generator attached to the frame 14 consist of a tug-of-war type fixed mooring cable 1, a fixed shaft 4 incorporating a current collection control device, a plurality of fixed support arms 2, and a plurality of fixed support arms 2. It consists of a detent rudder 3 attached to one of the fixed support arms 2 and a depth control cable 6.

The direction of the frame 14 is controlled by the fixed mooring cable 1 and the depth control cable 6.
The frame 14 is controlled via the book support arm 2, while the shaft 4 of the frame 14
determines the direction of the generator body. In order to place the generator at the desired water depth,
The generator is tilted at a corresponding angle. This inclination causes the generator to maintain its depth where the buoyancy of the generator and the tension and weight of the three cables 6, 5, 1 are balanced.
(When the inclination angle of the generator is small, the water depth of the generator is large, and when the inclination angle is large, the water depth is small.) As can be clearly understood by looking at Figure 2, a hydroelectric power generation device is The first stage is mainly comprised of fan blades 13 that project radially from the hub 20. Assuming that this perspective view of the hydroelectric power plant is viewed from the upstream side, the fan rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow, ie, counterclockwise. The direction of rotation depends on the pitch of the fan blade. For example, in FIG. 3, when the pitch of the fan blade is reversed from that shown in FIG. 1, the direction of rotation of the fan is reversed and becomes clockwise.

In the fifth illustrated embodiment, the inlet end 17 of the tube means is embedded in the hub 20, as shown in cross-section through the hub 20. As is clear from the figure, the rotating portion of the generator rotates around the fixed shaft 4 of the frame 14. Juan Blade 1
3 is fixed to the hub 20. Reference numeral 21 is a roller bearing whose purpose is to make the rotation of the hub 20 easier.
It will be supported by One of the functions of the anti-rotation rudder 3 is to utilize the flow of surrounding water so as to balance the frictional torque produced by the roller bearings 21. The anti-rotation rudder 3 serves to prevent the fixed support arm 2 from rotating. (If the fixed support arm 2 rotates, the cable 1,
5 and 6 will be twisted and entangled with each other, resulting in damage. ) The second stage of the hydroelectric power generation device is equipped with hollow tubes 8, each of which has an inlet end 1.
7 and an outflow end 8. In the first illustrated embodiment, the inflow end 17 is provided on the outer circumferential wall of the hub 20. The inflow end 17 is oriented in the upstream direction with respect to the water flow so that the water enters the inflow end 17 smoothly without turbulence, passes through the hollow tube 9, and flows toward the outflow end 18. It is preferable that the The water is accelerated by the centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the first stage fan blade and collects energy. In a preferred form of the invention,
The fan blade is hollow, and the water is a fan blade.
It flows through the blades by an inlet end 17 towards an outlet end 18 .

To harness the energy of the water jet, a turbine 10 is mounted around the fan blades of a hollow ring 7, which is a donut-shaped hydraulic housing. The jet of water discharged from the outlet end 18 impinges on the turbine vanes 10 of the generator 11 . The turbine vanes 10 are thus oriented to convert the energy of the water jet into rotation of the generator 11.

The orientation of the outlet 12 is as shown in FIG. In the illustrated example, the direction of the water jet is viewed from the upstream side (in the illustrated example, the side with the cables 1, 5, 6 and their mooring bodies), that is, from the right in FIG. Looking from right to left, the generator 11 rotates in the same direction as the clock. The combined effect of this rotation and the water flow is to cause the water to pass outward on the side closer to the housing 7 and flow downwardly on the left side with respect to the housing 7. The outlet 12 follows the relative flow of this water, and the ejected water smoothly merges with the surrounding flow, with almost no pressure drop.

The current generated in the generator 11 is passed through the generator 1 through a wire 15 connected to the main cable 5.
1. After passing through the vanes 10 of the generator 11, the jet of water is discharged through an outlet 12 provided in the housing 7. Exit 12 is
fan blades, respectively, to create a vacuum pressure at said outlet 12, thereby providing a supplementary force (suction) on the vanes to discharge and recirculate the water flowing downstream of the housing 7 through the turbine vanes. 13 and is positioned downstream with respect to the direction of rotation and primary flow. Furthermore, a raised protrusion 23 is provided upstream of said outlet in order to create a bench lily effect and to increase the outlet created by positioning the outlet in the manner described above.

This raised projection 23 acts on the water flow flowing outside the housing 7, like a nozzle of a Bench lily tube (or a tapered nozzle with a gradually narrowing cross-sectional area). That is, the raised protrusion 23
has the effect of accelerating the water flow flowing outside. As the water flow accelerates, the static pressure of the water flow decreases according to Bernoulli's equation. This results in the second stage turbine 10 venting to a lower backpressure. Regarding whether or not the raised protrusion 23 is used, it may be considered that it is used when the device used as the second stage turbine 10 requires it.

The fact that the efficiency of the hydroelectric power generation device disclosed in this specification is higher than that of conventional ones is that the centrifugal force acting on the water in the hollow tube is used to generate a generator around the first stage turbine operated by the water flow. This is based on the fact that it generates a high-velocity jet flow that is used to drive a motor. In order to maintain the position of the device in the water flow, the device is equipped with suitable cables and control devices, so that there is no need to rigidly restrain the frame of the hydropower device with respect to the ground.

The reason why the hydroelectric power generation device according to the present invention can float in the water flow and the reason why the control cable 6 can control the floating depth will be explained as follows.

As mentioned above, the housing that incorporates the generator is
It is made to essentially float neutrally in water, and in the actual example carried out by the present inventor, a material with a buoyancy of about 3% on the floating side was used.
In this way, the device of the invention naturally floats in the water stream.

The floating depth of the device of the invention will be controlled by the interaction between the fixed mooring cable 1 and the depth control cable 6 on the fixed support arm 2. This fixed mooring cable 1 is permanently attached between the fixed support arm 2 and the mooring anchor 27 (see FIG. 3). By trying to shorten the length of the depth control cable 6, the stern of the generator system tends to move in the direction of sinking; If you try to lengthen it, the stern section will move in the direction of floating. In this way, the depth at which the generator device is located is controlled by controlling the depth control cable 6, and the depth at which the generator device is located is controlled by the depth control cable 6. This can be achieved by selectively shortening one of the plurality of depth control cables 6, 6.

From the above, it will be understood that the above-mentioned objects of the present invention have been effectively achieved. As long as it does not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention, changes or modifications may be made to the above configuration.
It goes without saying that everything covered in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings is for the convenience of explanation and should not be interpreted in a limiting sense.

The originally appended claims reside in all of the general and specific features of the invention as described herein and as interspersed between the general and specific features. It should also be understood that this is intended to cover the entire scope of the invention as it may be considered.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be listed just in case.

(1) Frame 14 and fan blade 13 that converts kinetic energy of water flow into rotational energy
a first stage turbine assembly comprising a shaft 4 and a peripheral edge, the first stage turbine assembly being rotatably mounted on the frame 14, and having a hollow a second stage turbine arrangement 10 mounted on said first turbine arrangement, said hollow tube means 8, 9 having an inlet end and an inlet end, respectively; The inflow end 17 is provided near the shaft 4 and the outflow end 18 is provided near the peripheral edge so as to create a jet of water by centrifugal action. radially mounted on the first stage turbine arrangement and further positioned at each outlet end to receive the jet of water and direct the jet in a direction to rotate the second stage turbine arrangement 10; the improved efficiency, characterized in that the turbine vane has turbine vanes oriented to discharge and has an electro-mechanical device for converting the rotational energy of the first and second stage turbine units into electrical energy; hydroelectric power generation equipment.

(2) The hydroelectric power generation apparatus according to item 1, wherein the fan blade 13 is hollow and constitutes the hollow tube means of the second stage turbine device 10.

(3) In the hydroelectric power generation device according to the above item 1, the second stage turbine device 10 includes a generator 11, and the generator 11 is located in the peripheral hollow ring 7 and connected to the turbine vane. (4) A hydroelectric power generation device according to item 1, characterized in that it is driven by a mooring means and a positioning stage of a generator that generates electrical energy, and a flow of water. Hydroelectric power generation device (5) according to item 1 above, characterized in that it comprises means for directing a generator in said generator, and further comprises electrical connection means for transmitting the electrical energy obtained by said generator. 2. A hydroelectric power generation device characterized in that the inflow end 17 has an opening, and the opening is oriented in an upstream direction with respect to the flow of water.

(6) In the hydroelectric power generation device according to item 1 above, the hollow tube means is characterized in that the inner diameter of the inlet end 17 thereof is larger than the inner diameter of the outlet end 18 thereof. Hydroelectric power generation equipment.

(7) In the hydroelectric power generation device according to the above item 1, the jet of water in the hollow tube means:
generated by the action of centrifugal force and regulating the size of a predetermined artificial head (AH) for rotating the second stage turbine vanes at the outflow end of said hollow tube means; A hydroelectric power generation device characterized by:

(8) In the hydroelectric power generation device according to item 1 above, each of the second stage turbine means is provided with an outlet located on the downstream side with respect to the rotational direction of the first stage turbine means. A hydroelectric power generation device featuring:

(9) In the hydroelectric power generation device described in the above item 8, a protrusion 23 is formed integrally with the hollow ring near each of the outlets 12 on the upstream side from the outlet; A hydroelectric power generation device characterized in that the raised portion 23 is for generating a bench lily effect at the outlet 12 when the first stage turbine device rotates.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the embodiment of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 in the same position in a water stream; FIG. 4 is a partial front view of the second stage of the hydroelectric power generation device, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged partially cutaway sectional view of the second embodiment. 1 is a fixed mooring cable, 2 is a fixed support arm,
3 is a detent rudder, 4 is a fixed shaft, 5 is a main cable, 6 is a depth control cable, 7 is a hollow ring,
8 and 9 are hollow tubes, 10 is a turbine, 11 is a generator, 12 is an outlet, 13 is a fan blade,
14 is a frame, 15 is a wire, 17 is an inflow end,
18 is the outflow end, 20 is the hub, 21 is the roller bearing, 2
3 is a raised protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first stage turbine device including a frame and a fan blade that converts kinetic energy of water flow into rotational energy, and a shaft is attached to the frame, the first stage a turbine arrangement comprising a hub and a peripheral hollow ring mounted for rotation on said axis of a frame, and comprising hollow tube means for said first stage turbine; There is a second stage turbine arrangement fixedly attached to the apparatus and rotating therewith, said hollow tube means each having an inlet end and an outlet end for directing the jet of water by centrifugal action. radially mounted on the first stage turbine arrangement, with the inlet end disposed on the outer circumferential wall of the hub and the outlet end received within the peripheral hollow ring;
further comprising a turbine vane disposed at each outlet end and oriented to receive the jet of water and emit the jet in a direction that rotates the second stage turbine arrangement; Hydroelectric power plant with improved efficiency, characterized in that it has an electro-mechanical device for converting the rotational energy of a second stage turbine device into electrical energy. 2. There is a frame and a first stage turbine device including a fan blade that converts kinetic energy of water flow into rotational energy, a shaft is attached to the frame, and the first stage turbine device has a hub and a shaft. a turbine arrangement having a circumferential hollow ring, mounted for rotation on said axis of the frame, and including hollow tube means fixedly attached to said first stage turbine arrangement; There is a rotating second stage turbine arrangement, each of said hollow tube means having an inlet end and an outlet end, said inlet end being adapted to produce a jet of water by centrifugal action. radially mounted on the first stage turbine arrangement, embedded in the hub and with the outlet ends contained within the peripheral hollow ring, and further disposed at each outlet end and having a a turbine vane oriented to receive the jet of water and emit the jet in a direction that rotates the second stage turbine arrangement; Hydroelectric power plant with improved efficiency, characterized in that it has an electro-mechanical device for converting energy into electrical energy.